Garden Club of America Appointments

Congratulations to these ladies who have been selected to serve in Garden Club of America positions for the coming year. The Garden Club of Houston is well represented.

Sara Ledbetter -GCA Vice Chair -Floral Design

Nellen Roland – GCA Vice Chair - Scholarship

Meg Tapp – GCA Treasurer – Visiting Gardens

Nancy Etheridge – Zone IX Representative - Garden History & Design

Liz Wozencraft – Zone IX Representative - Floral Design

The Garden Club of America

2023 Zone IX Meeting and Flower Show

The Annual Zone IX meeting hosted by The Garden Club of Jackson was held in Jackson, Mississippi from April 11-14, 2023. The city of Jackson was the lifelong home to literary icon and Pulitzer Prize winning author Eudora Welty. The theme for the week was “Flora & Eudora”. President-elect Estelle Lozmack, Floral Design delegate Tara Caldwell and I were honored to attend this meeting to represent The Garden Club of Houston. GCA Zone IX Representatives Nancy Keely (Judging), Margaret Pierce (Photography) and Liz Wozencraft (Flower Show) rounded out our group.

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and were treated to a lovely dinner at the Old Capitol Museum. Wednesday morning, we arose early to arrange our required “Hort Challenge” entry and to enter the required 7 Horticulture entries that had carefully flown with us from Houston. The Hort Challenge was aptly named as each club was required to only use plants from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s from a plant list provided of plants that would have grown in Eudora Welty’s garden during that time. Mary Sommers Pyne and Margaret Pierce’s fabulous cutting gardens came to our rescue for these special flowers as they had many on the list. Estelle brought a beautiful container representative of the 1920’s and expertly arranged our challenge entry. I am pleased to report that we took home 2nd place among the 21 clubs that entered. Among our Hort entries, we had 1sts, 2nds, and 3rds. Not bad considering that all were cut in Houston on Monday and judged on Wednesday. On behalf of our club, Tara Caldwell entered the Floral Design Class “A Parade in Bloom” and prepared a stunning arrangement capturing a 2nd place ribbon. Margaret Pierce showed off her photography skills entering a class entitled “Ladies in Spring”. Her beautiful photograph captured a close up of a flower grown from a bulb. Kelly Moneyhan created our required Botanical Arts entry for the class titled “Peering Intently” which required embellishment of a magnifying glass. Kelly not only won a blue ribbon but was awarded “Best in Show” for her amazing magnifying glass that featured plant crafted replicas of the famous Tiffany bee pin to “peer” at. This flower show was judged by members of our club that included Ruthie Kelly, Jenny Kempner, Laura Levenson, and Stephanie Shanks.

The business meetings featured fabulous speakers following the theme of Past, Present and Future. On Wednesday, the first presentation by One Writers’ Garden author Susan Haltom was about “Preserving the Past: The Welty Garden”. On Thursday, we had two presentations. In the morning Nicole Burke, author, podcaster, and owner of The Rooted Garden gave a fabulous talk “Planting in the Present: Kitchen Gardens”. The afternoon featured author and retired Chief Horticulturist of the Huntsville (Alabama) Botanical Garden who spoke on “Focusing on the Future: Native Plants”. Mr. Cotton drew upon many of the GCA Freedman Medal winners and extolled their virtues. It was exciting to see the 2014 winner Asclepias Tuberosa, Butterfly Weed proposed by GCH member Doris Heard and the 2021 Honorable Mention Prunus Mexicana, Mexican Plum Tree proposed by GCH Member Carol Price were among the plants he highlighted.

GCA President Debbie Oliver gave a lovely speech about GCA and thanked our Zone for all of our contributions acknowledging our affectionate nickname “The Divine Zone IX”. Our fabulous Zone IX leaders Nancy Montgomery (Chair, Club Committees) and Beth Whitney (Chair, Club Presidents) expertly facilitated our meetings. All of the Zone IX representatives, which included our own Nancy Keely, Margaret Pierce, and Liz Wozencraft, gave reports on their specific committees. The 21 Zone IX Presidents gave reports highlighting their clubs activities and accomplishments complete with pictures. Of note, the President’s reports were given in order of the year the club joined GCA. Only 2 clubs in our Zone were invited before GCH. Our club became a member of GCA in 1932 following Lookout Mountain (1923) and Memphis Garden Club (1925). We have a long and valued history with the Garden Club of America.

Mississippi is known as the “Hospitality State” and this meeting did not disappoint. In addition to dining at the Old Capital Museum, we visited Eudora Welty’s home and Garden, had small dinners in the Jackson club member’s homes, visited the Governor’s Mansion, and wrapped up the week with an Award’s Dinner at The Faulkner, a historic building in downtown Jackson that had sweeping views of the Old Capital, and the Pearl River basin. The Garden Club of Jackson extended to all attendees “Southern Hospitality” at its best.

Thank you for sending Estelle, Tara, and I to represent you at the “Divine Zone IX” meeting. It was an incredibly worthwhile event.

February through April 2023 Donors

Major Gift Fund

In honor of Nancy W. Kelley from 2022-2023 GCH Advisory Board

In honor of The Garden Club of Houston from Nancy W. Kelley

In memory of Ann Johnson Gunn from Meg Tapp

In memory of Twyla Mae Tribble from Marianna Brewster

Community Fund

In honor of The Garden Club of Houston from Mary and Robert Trainer, Jr

In memory of Mr. John H. Lollar from Sara Ledbetter

In memory of Twyla Mae Tribble from Anne French

In memory of James Harris Hawley from Dallas McNamara and Stephanie Shanks

Endowment Fund

In memory of Twyla Mae Tribble from Judy and Charles Tate

In memory of Ellen Wayne Ormond Parkey from MariBen Ramsey & Karen Kahan

In memory of Larry Judson Gunn from Meg Tapp

Bulb and Plant Mart Fund

In honor of Julie Griffin from Meg Tapp

Spencer Workshop Fund

In memory of Carolyn Lupton from Marianna Brewster

REMINDER – Membership dues will be billed electronically by May 15th and payment must be received by May 31st. If a member has not paid by June 15th, she will not be included in the Green Book. If not paid by July 15th, a member forfeits her membership in the club. There is a pathway for reinstatement in the By-laws.